Vegan Afternoon Chai at We Are Wellness

I like afternoon tea as much as the next person (ok maybe more and when I saw that We Are Wellness were hosting a Vegan Afternoon Chai as part of the Leeds Indie Food festival I jumped at the chance of trying this unique take on afternoon tea.

We Are Wellness, housed in the stunning Clifton Manor in Headingley, is a yoga and beauty therapy space which was the perfect setting for our relaxing afternoon.

Upon arrival at the manor we were led into the dining room where we could help ourselves to a minty fruit infusion, water, the most delicious vegan chai tea and spiced crunchy dhal.

The first course included a variety of savoury morsels with  an Indian inspired theme.

These included:

Aubergine chapati wraps with a pomegranate salad - whilst the flavours of the wrap went well together the wraps were a bit too spicy for my taste.

Crispy baked samosas with a potato and pea or tofu and cashew filling. 

Baked beetroot hajis with a most delicious apple and mint chutney 

And finally, open cucumber on rye sandwiches, served with cucumber raita; because no afternoon tea is complete without cucumber sandwiches!

After topping up our cups with more chai the sweet course and my taste buds were in for a treat! 

From mango lassi cheesecake to chili chocolate brownies and the very scrumptious banana and chai spiced cupcakes (or rather just cake)

Readers of this blog will know (or maybe they don't, who knows?) that I rather rather enjoy experimenting with various ingredients and substitutes in a bid to cater for pop;e with dietary requirements and so I was eager to hear how the sweet treats of our tea were made.

The brownies use hydrated chia seeds instead of eggs. For my recipes using chia seeds you could click here and....oh wait I forgot to post the other recipes.

The banana and chai caramel cake which was beautifully light untextured was made using soaked cashew nuts, which were then ground into a paste, in place of butter.

Finally, it was time for the petit fours, although what do you call petit fours when there's no fours (oven) involved? 

The selection included a coconut and cardamon ladoo as the totally diving Indian cashew fudge bites.

Thanks to We Are Wellness for the gloriously guilt-free afternoon tea which was low on sugar yet super high on tickling those taste buds!

SaveSave